Residents of the building at1690 Paris St. in Aurora — where James Eagan Holmes had rigged a series of explosive devices in his apartment — thought they could return home Sunday, but all were stopped by police.
It may be Tuesday before they can return to their homes for good, police said. But officers told residents who had been evacuated early Friday, after Holmes told police he had booby-trapped unit 10, that the building was still a crime scene.
Police, however, offered to go into apartments to retrieve important personal items, such as cell phones, personal documents, laptop computers and wallets.
Holmes was arrested Friday after he allegedly killed 12 people and injured 58 others who were watching
James Eagan Holmes (Provided by University of Colorado Denver)
When they went to the building, which is reserved for graduate and medical students at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, they found a tangle of explosives. The devices were disarmed on Saturday.
The door to Holmes' third-floor apartment has been screwed shut by FBI investigators. Police at the scene said that although explosive devises have been disarmed, there is concern about hazardous materials inside the apartment.
Dmitry Shchekochikhin, 27, a student at the Anschutz Medical Campus from Moscow, Russia, returned home Sunday at 8 a.m. to retrieve belongings including his laptop, cell phone, passport and medical text books.
Shchekochikhin has had an first floor apartment in the building since November and said he often encountered Holmes.
"Whenever I said hello or greeted him, he would never say anything back," said Shchekochikhin. He said that Holmes wore casual clothing, "nothing special."
Roberto Martinez, who lives in one the four other buildings evacuated, after Holmes' arrest, said police knocked on his door and yelled for him and other tenants to grab necessities and get out because they believed there was a bomb in the building next door.
Still, he was not worried about returnining home.
"It's just an incident," Martinez said. "It doesn't change my mind about the neighborhood. It could have happened in a rich neighborhood or a poor neighborhood."
Ryan Parker: 303-954-2409, rparker@denverpost.com or twitter.com/ryanparkerdp
